The reason why the words of divorce are considered rather than the intentions
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
May Allah reward you. This questioner asks: Why is divorce not judged by intentions, as is the case with all other rulings, but rather by the words used?
Answer:
Because divorce is a right that involves another right belonging to the woman. If we were to accept his claim that he intended to harm the woman—this is if rulings were tied to intention, and if the ruling were exclusive to him alone. However, if the ruling is exclusive to him, or if it involves another person who has a right in it, then we do not accept his claim of hidden intention; we take him by what is apparent.
May Allah reward you. This questioner asks: Why is divorce not judged by intentions, as is the case with all other rulings, but rather by the words used?
Answer:
Because divorce is a right that involves another right belonging to the woman. If we were to accept his claim that he intended to harm the woman—this is if rulings were tied to intention, and if the ruling were exclusive to him alone. However, if the ruling is exclusive to him, or if it involves another person who has a right in it, then we do not accept his claim of hidden intention; we take him by what is apparent.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 141/119 شرح زاد المستقنع/ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com (33:55)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.